Religion Rant

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So today, I exorcised a few more of my inner demons, and dashed off this quick essay on religion: www.nadisrec.com/essay1.html

It's not linked from the main page yet (probably never will be). Do let me know what you think.

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), November 16, 2002

Answers

It's intersting you chose the number 3, as most religions make vast use of that number and the personification of God. Did you do this purposely?

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), November 18, 2002.

Paul; your sequence of thoughts here seem reminiscent of Woody Allen's analysis process of well, anything. I sense in you the realization that after all that's said and done, none of us really knows for sure the answer to what it's all about. I'd like to recommend you watch Hannah and her sisters. One of the last scenes really reminds me of your thoughts and I'd love to know what you think of it. As for my thoughts about religion and God and all; to me God isn't a symbol but a force for change.

-- Barb e. (Suesuesbeo9@cs.com), November 18, 2002.

Wow, you should definatly link to that, IMO.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), November 17, 2002.

It sucked. I mean, who am I to make these vitriolic blanket statements about billions of human beings? Reload the page to see the statement I was TRYING to make, before all my ideological mud-slinging.

Oh, and Barb: exactly right.

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), November 18, 2002.


i have recently finished reading the book "living buddha, living christ". it is written by a buddhist monk who believes in God (or as you say, "3"). this book served to guide my own ideas about 3, and i have come to reach a very real type of understanding through it. i agree with your statement that organized religion takes 3 literally. the strange thing about that is that it has a backwards effect, taking 3 literally almost cancels 3 out in a way. i almost left my church because of this. putting a name to something gives it existence, but the existence of the name is not the existence of what is named, because the name itself does not describe the essence. a name only gives something existence so that our minds can conceive of the essence. in the end, i believe 3 is something to be experienced. with whatever name you give 3, or however you view 3, through science, math, religion, philosophy, 3 exists, and you only understand through experience. because through experience you feel and through feeling you gain perspective.

-- joseph maniwang (jmaniwan@vt.edu), November 19, 2002.


As far as closing the doors to experience goes, I think Atheism should be a stance adopted for a partiular lack thereof. Whether or not one is closed off to experience would surely depend on the individual. As an atheist I disbelieve, but I don't deny. I don't deny anything I don't really know, I also don't believe in anything I don't really know either. I'm no more inclined to put my faith in the preconceptions of others, as I am my own. The only thing I really have blind faith in, is that there is a vast amount I could know, ie. An endless amount I don't know.

If it's human nature to try and impose meaning on things, I think I'd rather put 'existence' at the other end of the list (if at all). I'm starting to like the Mechanist approach. To thrive off learning new things sounds like a great way of life.

-"it isn’t what one does while one exists, but that one has the will *to* exist, that counts. And existing as an individual is a good thing, even for a schlub like Shinji; in fact, the only real “moral” here, is one of unconditional acceptance"-Inu

The will to live combined with unconditional acceptance sounds like a very good thing. Like, opening up to a lifetime of discovery.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), November 20, 2002.


Well, yeah. My definition of atheism is a little more specific, concentrating on the theistic aspect and not so much meaning "non-churchgoing person". Some feel that the atheist believes in everything *except* religion. If I just believe the universe is real, and not an old man in the sky, then technically I could be atheist. But I think the universe is just as cool (and riddled with metaphysical possibilities) as any god.

-- Inu (paul@nadisrec.com), November 20, 2002.

Inu, if your a fan of comic stuff, I couldnt reccomend the Akira mangas more. Particuarly were metaphysical possibilities are concerned.

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), November 20, 2002.

One of the greatest examples of mass stupidity ever is today's Western approach to religion. Athiests are the primary group of which I speak. There we see some of the most intelligent people in the world spewing forth utter nonsense. I am not saying this of all athiests, and I doubt that anyone in this group fits into the large subset of which I will speak. I will present two examples.

A grown woman with whom I worked over the summer asked me, "do you believe in evolution or God?"

The woman was using a very popular argument. If anything in the Christian Bible is not literally true then the whole book is a sham, God doesn't exist in any form, and it's all a big nothing. I doubt I need to elaborate in this forum.

My English teacher in 12th grade was a very intelligent man who understood much about the world (and was a huge movie buff). One of his lectures went: "Now, if God were to come down and show himself to me, I would follow whatever religion he told me to follow to the letter until the day I died. Why? Because if there is a God there is a..." (points to ceiling) "...heaven."

My old teacher has at least two major flaws in his belief. One is "if God, then Heaven." Who the fuck ever said that? The second is that he would be the perfect spiritual disciple if called upon. Well, there are millions of people who believe fully and perfectly in a Supreme Being and know exactly what It wants them to do - but they don't always do it by any stretch of the imagination.

From what I can see, these types of thought processes are all too common. Believing that it's all a big nothing is perfectly valid, but the way that people have drawn these conclusions is amazing. Their reasoning has filled me with hope and conviction on those issues on which I deviate from academia.

On a side note, my Super Nintendo broke today. I have come to the logical conclusion that videogames do not exist.

Also, Hinduism is NOT polytheistic.

-- John McDevitt (JuntMonkey@hotmail.com), November 21, 2002.


A lot of people think that just because darwin thought up a theory of how we came to be, that should automaticly cancel god, as if he cannot be if he did not sprout humans on earth... ive been confronted with that too, there's also the ever so popular anti point "oh yeah? well how did evolution even start? micro organisms dont just appear" which can also be explained scientificly...

The only thing modern science failed to explain to me so far(maybe due to lack of sources, if anyone got a link for the following question...) was: while the big bang theory is explained in details, there doesnt seem to be any mantioning of how particles were there the first place...

Im an atheist mainly because religions seems like ideas, rather then a reality, and because i prefer to just enjoy living then worry about what happens next, but there is a certon amount of people out there who think "there is no god" stricly because of the evolution theory (or because their religion has failed them)...

they can always go for buddahism :)

p.s ironicly, i found out nes is officialy malfunctioning a few days ago.

-- zack the new lurker (mr_spidy@hotmail.com), November 22, 2002.



*should be "my nes" not "nes".

-- zack the new lurker (mr_spidy@hotmail.com), November 22, 2002.

the best argument i can think of for the existence of god is the existence of my own consciousness.hindus belive consciousness is like a pseudopod of god,and we are here to learn as much as possible so that god can remember the universe he forgot in creating.for god to have created everything,he would have to exist outside of everything.what other than thought can exist without matter?but can thought truly exist without matter?can anybody honestly conceive of a thought without it being a result of their experiences,a truly original thought?can we think without using words,which are themselves a rection to our environment?maybe burroughs and the behavoralists are right.this is what i'm getting at:without matter,what is there to think about?god would have to be mindless,or he would lose his mind.the world starts to make sense when viewed from this perspective.but is nature,or the natural laws,any different from a mindless deity?from now on,i bow only to the triumvrate of Gravity,Electromagnetism,and Holy Entropy(like any of us have a choice in the matter)

-- alex walsh (doesn't work,sorry@yahoo.com), May 02, 2003.

"can anybody honestly conceive of a thought without it being a result of their experiences,a truly original thought?can we think without using words,which are themselves a rection to our environment?"

This is really where I like to communicate with girls.

We are biologically different, and thats just where it starts. You can conceive a thought that is the result of the opposite sex's experience instead of your own, thus its original. Because, who's to say men and women have all experiences in common. We may live in the same enviroment, but do we react to it the same? At least not chemically, right? ... Of course, not to be rigidly heterosexual or anything, friends are friends. Problem with me is I can get a little too religous with this one, I dare say I've even been guilty of replacing 'God' with 'Girl' ... Luckily I'm a fucking slacker, its innate - Should be doing an essay right now, its due soon!

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), May 05, 2003.


It's better to have your back-pack with you and not need it, then to need your back-pack and not have it with you.

-- Dan Walker (sippinvodka@hotmail.com), June 03, 2003.

"To be deprived of art & left alone with philosophy is to be close to hell"

Igor Stravinsky

-- Sam (janecherrington@paradise.net.nz), June 03, 2003.



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